What if we put it the other way? If VR had come first, before our current virtual meeting setups, would you have said 'oh no I don't like this, would much rather have a cutout view of just their head instead?'

Except they work, even if you are super angry at being forced to watch them Even if you swear up and down they don't work on YOU, on average they work on the majority of people And finally, if you really are in the super minority where ads don't work, then you are not a revenue source anyway so why keep you?

Ever used gmail? Why are you using a remote mail client when you paid for a computing device that can run a mail server locally?

Good points. There has been a very strong luddite / reactionary vibe on slashdot for a while now. Everything is useless, makes no sense etc. I guess they feel smart for saying that?

Oh FFS are you doing a 'but nice guys' thing?

This is an incorrect reading of what monopoly and competition mean. Apple has a monopoly on the market that is app distribution on iOS. It does not matter that it is *their* platform, this is quite easily anti-competitive. Them not being the market leader makes little difference, they have sufficient market power to be challenged on this. Other integrated / platform businesses have been challenged, and lost, in the past.

Bye!

As someone with both a PhD, and over 10 years' "real work experience", no, a year or work experience is nothing like a PhD. And no, my PhD wasn't about what I could do afterwards - I actually contributed a small, but useful, piece of knowledge, which is still referenced by researchers today on a regular basis. To me, my PhD was a bigger achievement from an intellectual, and maybe "use to the world" perspective than my whole business career has been. On a side note, I've never quite understood what it is about the PhD that creates such ire and envy in people (not you of course!). I've had people several levels above me at work, as well as people much more successful than me in monetary terms, get super competitive when they find out I have a PhD. Really brings out insecurities, in my experience.

Spot on. It's such a shame - for a good while Slashdot was a fantastic gathering of techies and nerds, with insightful discussions as well as humour. I only read from time to time now to see what paranoid / right wing / Russian etc propaganda is getting peddled. It's not even subtle.

This is modded up? What the hell happened to this site? It used to be a place to come for informed conversation on techie topics. Now half of the posts are anti-SJW rants by barely concealed alt-righters or incels. Such a shame.

I am really getting tired of how reactionary Slashdot has gotten over the last couple of years. 90% of new products / ideas discussed are routinely dismissed, with the viewpoint that somewhere back in 1995 things peaked. Have you actually used a collaborative document editor like Quip for more than 2 minutes, and given yourself time to actually use it? I have. Initially I wasn't quite sure what the big use case was, but I'm using it a lot now for: 1) Collaborating on core flow for documents before prettifying elsewhere if needed. Ie I'll take a first stab at the storyline, then add in the people I want to edit / critique it 2) Rapidly building out a collaborative document where individuals own sections. It is SO much faster than mailing segments around to just be able edit real-time together. This allows you to see what others are doing, align your sections if needed, quickly communicate if needed too. This is not a slashvertisement by me. I've tried this stuff. It works for use cases like mine where you need to collaborate to get documents built out. Saves a ton of email-based delays, things get done faster, and easier.

Using different browsers does very little to stop a competent advertiser building a complete picture of you. DMPs are nifty little programs that build a unified view of people through heuristics (eg same IP address for multiple browser sessions) and probabilistic methods (eg this phone and this laptop seem to spend a lot of time in the same physical location, they are probably the same user), even before you start taking into account cookies, logins etc.

The study itself uses the Daily Mail as proof that in the UK police don't catch criminals anymore... How does shit like this get published?

Why? Do you think the business of tech should be tech for its own sake? Or to actually improve on everyday needs & issues? Or is it that you expect him to say 'we're here to make money'? In which case, you can want to make money while taking pride in your work and the effect it has on the world. Your post smacks of cynicism. Wanting to do good is not hubris; it's arguably what should be the default for most of us.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... I'm happy to argue that the definition of mental illness is fluid, and entirely open to debate